Morning Prayer: Monday 23 December 2024

Monday 23 December 2024

Monday after Fourth Sunday of Advent
Anticipation

Week 4 of Advent

O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.

PSALMODY

Antiphon: Show your servants your works and your splendour to their children. Psalm 90.16

Opening

Venite

1 O come let us sing out to the Lord,*
let us shout in triumph to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his face with thanksgiving*
and cry out to him joyfully in psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God,*
and a great king above all gods.
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,*
and the peaks of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his and he made it;*
his hands moulded dry land.
6 Come let us worship and bow down,*
and kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he himself is our God;*
we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
8 Today if only you would hear his voice:*
'Do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness;
9 when your fathers tested me;*
put me to proof though they had seen my works.
10 Of whom I swore in my wrath:*
'They shall not enter my rest.''

Glory to the Father
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from Psalm 90)

1 Lord, you have been our refuge*
from one generation to another.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the earth were born,*
from age to age you are God.

3 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning;*
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.

4 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us*
and the years in which we suffered adversity.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 50

1 The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken;*
he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty,*
God reveals himself in glory.

3 Our God will come and will not keep silence;*
before him there is a consuming flame,
and round about him a raging storm.

4 He calls the heavens and the earth from above*
to witness the judgement of his people.

5 'Gather before me my loyal followers,*
those who have made a covenant with me
and sealed it with sacrifice.'

6 Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause;*
for God himself is judge.

7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak:
'O Israel, I will bear witness against you;*
for I am God, your God.

8 I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices;*
your offerings are always before me.

9 I will take no bull-calf from your stalls,*
nor he-goats out of your pens;

10 For the beasts of the forest are mine,*
the herds in their thousands upon the hills.

11 I know every bird in the sky,*
and the creatures of the fields are in my sight.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,*
for the whole world is mine and all that is in it.

13 Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls,*
or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving*
and make good your vows to the Most High.

15 Call upon me in the day of trouble;*
I will deliver you, and you shall honour me.'

16 But to the wicked God says:*
'Why do you recite my statutes,
and take my covenant upon your lips;

17 Since you refuse discipline,*
and toss my words behind your back?

18 When you see a thief, you make him your friend,*
and you cast in your lot with adulterers.

19 You have loosed your lips for evil,*
and harnessed your tongue to a lie.

20 You are always speaking evil of your brother*
and slandering your own mother's son.

21 These things you have done, and I kept still,*
and you thought that I am like you.'

22 'I have made my accusation;*
I have put my case in order before your eyes.

23 Consider this well, you who forget God,*
lest I rend you and there be none to deliver you.

24 Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me;*
but to those who keep in my way will I show
the salvation of God.'

Glory to the Father...

Blessed are you, God of glory; you call us to give up all our vain attempts to reach you, and to come before you in thanksgiving for your great salvation, shown to us in Jesus Christ our Lord

Conclusion

Isaiah 2.2-5

1 In days to come, the mountain where the Lord dwells*
will be lifted high above all the mountains
and raised above the hills.
2 All the nations will flock to it;*
countless peoples will come to it.
3 And they will say, Come let us go to the mountain of the Lord,*
to the temple of the God of Jacob,
4. who will teach us his ways,*
and we will walk in his paths;
5. who will sit in judgement over the nations;*
be arbiter among many peoples.
6. They will beat their swords into ploughshares,*
and their spears into sickles;
7. nation shall not lift up sword against nation,*
nor ever again prepare for war.
8. O people of Jacob come,*
let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Glory to the Father...

Antiphon: Show your servants your works, and your splendour to their children

READING(S)

Isaiah 33.17-22

Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will behold a land that stretches far away. Your mind will muse on the terror: 'Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?' No longer will you see the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a language that you cannot understand. Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be pulled up, and none of whose ropes will be broken. But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor stately ship can pass. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler, the Lord is our king; he will save us.

Revelation 22.6-11, 18-20

And he said to me, 'These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.' 'See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.' I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, 'You must not do that! I am a fellow-servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!' And he said to me, 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.' I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. The one who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Silence

Response Psalm (96.1)

Tell it out among the nations: 'The Lord is King!'
Tell it out among the nations: 'The Lord is King!'
He will judge the peoples with equity.
The Lord is King.'
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Tell it out among the nations: 'The Lord is King!'

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus antiphon: A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel: God with us. (Matthew 1.23)

1 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,* for he has come to his people and set them free.
2 He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,* born of the house of his servant David.
3 Through his holy prophets he promised of old* that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us.
4 He promised to show mercy to our forebears,* and to remember his holy covenant.
5 This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:* to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6 free to worship him without fear,* holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
7 You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,* for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8 to give his people knowledge of salvation* by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9 In the tender compassion of our God* the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,* and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father... (may be said by all)

Benedictus antiphon: A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel: God with us. (Matthew 1.23)

PRAYERS

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.

Amen

Collect of the Day

Stir up your power, Lord, and come:
and strengthen us by the might of your love; that, although we are hindered by our sins,
your abundant grace and mercy may quickly come and save us; for you live and reign with the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
Amen

God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen

Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!

The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil;
and bring us to life eternal.
Amen.